Anne Redpath is widely recognised as the doyenne of post-Second World War Scottish painting. Born in Galashiels, she trained concurrently at Edinburgh College of Art and Moray House College of Education, beginning her exhibiting career in 1919 when she showed with the Edinburgh Group before her marriage to the architect James Beattie Michie the following year.
Following their marriage, the couple lived in France between 1920 and 1934, where their three sons were born. Redpath later reflected on this formative period, remarking:
“Young women often come up to me and say, ‘I’m going to be like you and give up everything for painting’ – but that’s not how I see it at all. I could never have sacrificed my family to my painting and I don’t think anyone else should either. We lived in France … fifteen years and I put everything I had into house and furniture and dresses and good food and people. All that’s the same as painting really, and the experience went back into art when I began painting again.”
Redpath continued to draw and paint while raising her family, producing delicate, confident watercolours such as Behind the Old Church, Villefranche (1934). Works like this demonstrate not only her determination to maintain her practice but also the clarity of line and deft draughtsmanship that would remain hallmarks of her art. Haystacks reveals her ability to fill the support with fields of colour, manipulating tone and saturation to luminous effect.
Returning to Scotland in 1934, Redpath resumed painting in earnest from her base in Hawick, re-establishing links with Edinburgh’s artistic community. Her joyful still-lifes from the 1940s, such as Spring Flowers in a Jug, celebrate domestic beauty and colour, translating her pleasure in objects and decoration into painterly form. These works, often featuring items from her own collection of vases, ceramics and patterned fabrics, display her technical prowess in the handling of oil paint and her instinct for harmonious arrangement.
As her career gathered momentum, Redpath moved to the south side of Edinburgh in 1949 and to the New Town in 1952, becoming both a central figure in the Scottish art world and a generous hostess within it. Regular solo exhibitions were held in Edinburgh, London and beyond, while travel to France and Spain provided further inspiration. Her Andalusia paintings exemplify the radiant light, expressive brushwork and simplified architectural forms that distinguish her later landscapes.
During these mature years Redpath’s approach grew increasingly free and abstract. Works such as Flowers in a Blue and White Vase demonstrate her powerful palette, energetic manipulation of paint and her enduring fascination with floral still-life.
Her achievements were considerable. Redpath was the first female painter elected a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy, and the first Scottish woman elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Even after suffering a coronary thrombosis, she taught herself to paint left-handed so she could continue working.
Anne Redpath’s death in Edinburgh in 1965 was marked by numerous tributes. The Arts Council of Great Britain mounted a memorial exhibition of 86 works that toured Scotland, while further displays were held by the Royal Scottish Academy, the Scottish Gallery and the Scottish Arts Club. A major retrospective followed at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1997.
